Obama's Arctic drilling policy likely to be reversed under Trump

The United States will not allow new offshore oil and gas leases in the U.S. Arctic for the foreseeable future, U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced Friday.

The Obama administration had been considering allowing limited drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas off Alaska’s northern coast, as it developed a plan on what waters would be open to lease between 2017 and 2022. But fears that in the event of a spill the harsh and remote Arctic environment would present a challenge to cleanup efforts worried officials.

“Given the unique and challenging Arctic environment and industry’s declining interest in the area, forgoing lease sales in the Arctic is the right path forward,” Jewell said in a statement.

The announcement represents another blow to the offshore oil and gas industry, which had already watched its prospects for drilling along the Atlantic coastline dismissed by Jewell in March, following protest from environmental groups.

In the months since oil and gas lobbyists had campaigned to try and keep the U.S. Artic in the offshore plan, enlisting local officials in Alaska and some of the tribes that live along the Artic coast to argue oil and gas development was critical to growing their economy.

Randall Luthi, president of the offshore drilling trade group National Ocean Industries Association, called the announcement a “short-sighted political decision that threatens U.S. energy security, pulls the rug out from under Alaskans, and is a slap in the face and for consumers in the U.S. and throughout the world.”

But the decision might be short-lived. Congress could act early next year to overturn it through the Congressional Review Act. If they did, President-elect Donald Trump, who has presented himself as a vigorous advocate for growing U.S. oil and gas production, would be able to replace Obama’s five year plan with his own.
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Obama was probably pandering to the anti-science "Keep it in the Ground" left. This is an overreach at a time when market conditions probably do not favor an investment there at the current price of oil. I would lift the restriction of offshore drilling in general and let the market determine where companies drill. It is in their own interests to do it as safely as possible and not lose their product in some wasteful mishap.

"It continues. Have seen gunships firing and heard much activity in the last few hours."...
The Iraqi claim is plausible. It is just the kind of thing that could be expected from ISIS forces. ISIS is in a desperate fight and appears willing to pull down all those around them as they lose.

Some injuries were reported and more than a dozen people were arrested after opposing sides clashed at dueling pro- and anti-Trump rallies, Berkeley, Calif., police said.
The liberals engage in projection by calling Trump supporters fascists, when it is in fact, their supporters who are sparking the violence in Califonia. There is a strain of intolerance for other points of view that is enforced by people dressed in black and their faces covered. They physically attack Trump supporters or other conservatives. These people may wear black but the are the Brownshirts of liberal fascism.

Fuel Fix:
OPEC producers took another 153,000 barrels a day off the market in March as part of its bid to drain the world’s oil glut.

In the cartel’s monthly report released Wednesday, independent sources reported the group of oil-producing countries has cut output by 1.1 million barrels a day since December.

Last month, Libya’s output dropped by nearly 9 percent, and production edged lower in the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Nigeria, Iran, Angola and other countries. Saudi Arabia raised production by 41,000 barrels a day.

That effort has pushed oil prices above $50 a barrel in recent months, breathing life into U.S. oil patches like the Permian Basin. U.S. crude rose 16 cents on Wednesday to $53.56 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, as traders reacted to media reports that Saudi Arabia, the cartel’s de facto leader, wants to see OPEC continue production cuts into the second half of this year.

But even as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries works to slow…